1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Christmas tree watering, and more particularly to a trunk mounted Christmas tree water level measuring and alarm device and an optional tree watering system.
2. Background Information
It is well known that watering cut plants, especially Christmas trees can be inconvenient. A Christmas tree is also called a “holiday tree” or a “Winter Celebration Tree” to use an allegedly more expansive, politically correct nomenclature. However, as the applicant is not yet legally obligated to use such silly terms these will be referenced as Christmas trees herein. When a Christmas tree is not adequately watered it will dry out and this can lead to an unsightly premature excessive loss of tree needles. The drying of the tree also creates a substantial safety hazard as a dry tree becomes a substantial fire hazard. This fire hazard can be exacerbated by electrical ornaments and open flames (candles and fires in a fireplace) that are on or in proximity to the Christmas tree.
Typically the cut Christmas tree is mounted within a tree stand that includes a container, tank, or reservoir for holding water so that the tree can remain fresh without prematurely drying out during the holiday season. Periodic attempts to water the tree require that water be carefully poured into the container. The water reservoir is usually obstructed by closely spaced tree limbs, holiday decorations, tree base wraps, and surrounding gifts. The watering of a typical Christmas tree is thus more difficult than typical house plants and cut flowers, and is therefore often postponed, leading to a lack of adequate water supply for the Christmas tree.
Additionally due to the difficulty in reaching the Christmas tree stand, the watering procedure can result, more often than with watering of other house plants, in water spillage due to over-filling. This over-filling often results in damage to surrounding objects (including gifts) and to the carpet and floor. This may occur because a person can not readily ascertain, due to the previously mentioned obstructions, when the container or water reservoir is filled to an appropriate level sufficient to allow the tree to receive water from the reservoir or filled to overflowing.
The prior art has provided a number of devices in attempts to overcome some of the mentioned shortcomings. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,017 discloses a low water alarm for a Christmas tree stand having a fluid sensing wire probe connected to a battery operated circuit that activates an alarm with lights and sound using a hook for hanging it on a Christmas tree to detect a low water level in the Christmas tree stand reservoir. U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,137 discloses a limb mounted tree watering funnel for a Christmas tree. U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,176 discloses an ornamental reservoir and tube watering device that operates on the principal of pressure differentials. U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,236 discloses a reservoir, a conduit, and a valve with a check ball. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,076,009 and 5,799,437 disclose a Christmas tree watering system using a funnel placed in the head of a Santa Claus ornament and a tube plus a water level float valve control. U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,997 discloses a device having a segmented rigid conduit in combination with a funnel for adding water to hard-to-reach watering stands for indoor trees. U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,839 discloses a Christmas tree watering funnel with an indicating light and float. U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,348 discloses a device similar to U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,017. U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,926 discloses an offset funnel tree watering device. U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,083 discloses a trunk mounted tree watering device. U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,929 discloses a Christmas tree watering device that is coupled to the stand. U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,695 discloses a Christmas tree watering device with a funnel mounted from a horizontally extending section of tubing. U.S. Design Pat. Nos. D465,388, D483,234 disclose Christmas tree watering devices (generally funnels) in the shape of a Christmas tree ornament. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,615,516, 6,073,390 and 6,082,043 6,167,651 disclose a watering system for a Christmas tree whereby an ornament is used as the receiving receptacle for liquid to be delivered to a base holder or container supporting the base of a Christmas tree for supplying water to the Christmas tree. U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,195 discloses a Christmas tree watering device that provides a filling reservoir separate from the tree. U.S. Pat. No. 6,662,493 discloses a tree watering device with internal float mechanism. Reservoir plant and Christmas tree watering systems are also shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,369,910; 5,363,591; 5,157,868 4,930,252; 4,653,224; and 4,825,587.
The above patents tend to solve the problem of simplifying the watering procedure; however this is only part of the problem. There remains a need to tell the user when to use the watering device to water the tree. Christmas trees use considerably more water than the conventional house plant so there is a need to water more frequently. Several of the above solutions incorporate water level measuring devices with the watering devices. These devices can be of great assistance in maintaining a Christmas tree, however the above solutions are complex and thus costly. The complexity of these prior art water level measuring devices and/or the associated costs have lead to a failure of such device from being widely commercially implemented. Another problem of the prior art water level alarms for Christmas trees relates to notification of the user. If they are very unobtrusive notifications then the user is not adequately notified. Alternatively when the alarm is substantial they can be annoying and thus de-activated by the user, and equally ineffective in practice. As a result of all of these issues there is no widely available, simple, cost effective water level measuring device that allows users to properly maintain their Christmas trees.
All of the above identified patents are incorporated herein by reference. As described above, there remains a need in the art to for tree water level measuring and alarm device that can be easily and securely mounted and adapted to many trees and tree supports that will adequately indicate the user of the need to water the Christmas tree.